Symptoms After a Rat Bite and the Correct Way to Handle It

The rat is a common rodent, with many species and a wide distribution, and it can transmit a variety of diseases.What should you do if you are bitten by a rat?Common rat species include the brown rat, the yellow-chested rat, the house mouse, and the striped field mouse, with the brown rat being the dominant species; common rat-borne diseases include hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome, scrub typhus, and leptospirosis, among which hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome is relatively severe, and its incidence in rural areas is far higher than in towns.

Clinically, hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome is characterized by fever, low blood pressure, bleeding, and kidney damage. Patients often have redness of the face, neck, and upper chest (“three reds”) and headache, lower back pain, and eye socket pain (“three pains”), and severe cases resemble a drunk appearance.In recent years, surveillance data on hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome show that farmers and students are high-risk groups, patients are concentrated in the 16-60 age group, and spring and winter are the peak periods of onset.

So how should a rat bite be handled?

If you are bitten by a rat, you should first rinse the wound with clean water or soapy water, then disinfect it with iodophor. The wound should be left open and not bandaged. If the wound is relatively deep or large, you should promptly go to the hospital to have the wound cleaned and disinfected. Next, you should also observe whether there are symptoms such as fever or bleeding. If any such symptoms appear, you must immediately seek care at a regular hospital.

Should a hemorrhagic fever vaccine be injected?

Being bitten by a rat does not mean you have been infected with this virus. The incubation period of hemorrhagic fever virus is generally 3 to 9 days, and in long cases it can exceed 2 weeks. However, it also takes nearly 2 weeks for antibodies to form after injection of the hemorrhagic fever vaccine, and the onset cycle is very close. Therefore, there is little point in injecting the hemorrhagic fever vaccine.

Should a rabies vaccine be injected?

According to data, although rats, squirrels, and some other rodents can theoretically carry rabies and can also be infected in the laboratory, a 2007 survey showed that rabies virus was not detected in rodents in our country. From a global perspective, rabies caused by rodent bites to humans is also a very rare individual case, so rabies vaccination is not recommended.

In addition, regarding how to prevent hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome, the following suggestions are offered:

1. Avoid contact with rats or their secretions and excreta. Once rats are found in the home, correct and scientific methods should be used to eliminate them promptly;

2. Do a good job of environmental mite elimination and disinfection. For mite elimination, a sprayer can be used in indoor places where rats are active, especially at rat nests, to spray amitraz. For environmental disinfection, properly diluted 84 disinfectant can be used to wipe object surfaces, and space spraying can be used to disinfect the air;

3. In areas with severe rat infestation, key populations aged 16-60 can be vaccinated against hemorrhagic fever. Among them, people with contraindications to vaccination, those who have previously had hemorrhagic fever, and those who have completed the full course of hemorrhagic fever vaccination should not receive preventive vaccination.

How to eliminate rats

1. Cement rat elimination:

Stir-fry foods such as rice, corn, and flour, add a little edible oil, then mix in dry cement, and place it where rats appear. After the rat eats it, the cement absorbs water in the intestinal tract and solidifies, causing the rat to die from abdominal distension.

2. Diesel rat elimination:

Mix butter, machine oil, and diesel evenly, and place it around rat holes. When the rat gets oil on its body, it easily picks up dust, making the rat feel uncomfortable. When it licks with its mouth, the diesel enters the stomach and intestines through the digestive tract, corroding the stomach and intestines and causing death.

3. Ammonia water rat elimination:

Use 1-1.5 kg of ammonia water, pour it into a rat hole, and immediately block the hole. Its odor can fumigate the rat to death. In rat holes where ammonia water has been used to poison rats, rats will not dare to enter within one year.